"She should be coming around soon..." Tal whispered. Janos didn't say a word, just touched Aryasei's hair. And then her eyes opened...
The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was Janos, who smiled. I thought perhaps I saw tears in his eyes. "Rest now, Aryasei." he said, softly, stroking my hair.
"I'm alright, Janos. And...and I owe you my life."
"Tal told me what to do..." Janos said, flushing.
"I owe you both my life, then." I said, smiling and sitting up. Tal sat on my shoulder.
"I'll be...outside if you need me." Janos said, standing up and leaving.
"Ya wanna go see him?" Tal asked, with a tone of voice I'd never heard him use before.
"Of course I do!"
Janos wasn't too far outside the sanctuary. He was standing in such a way that I could only see his profile, and the moonlight shining on his face made him look serene.
"Janos...?" I said, softly. He turned, and smiled. "Aryasei..." I walked up and stood next to him.
"I'm not disturbing you, am I?"
"No...Aryasei...I was just thinking..."
"About what?" I asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Well...I was thinking, that there might not be much time left..."
"What do you mean?"
"When we go to help Kain and Umah..."
"You're afraid that one of us is...going to die?" I said, squeezing his shoulder. He nodded, touched my hand, then turned to face me.
"I wish things could have turned out better for us..." he murmured, gently touching my face. He sighed then, and looked back up at the sky.
"Janos...don't say things like that. Everything will be alright, because I'll find the way home and take you there..."
"Aryasei..." said Tal and Janos, together.
"Well, Janos" Tal said, half joking, "If we're all gonna die, I wanna apologize for being sharp with you while Aryasei was hurt. It's just...I've known her since she was a baby..."
"I understand." Janos said, smiling at the little fairy, who probably would have been smiling back were he the size of a normal human. Then he said he'd be inside, since he wanted to talk to Vorador, and flew away, leaving me alone with Janos.
"There's so much I wanted to say, but I can't find the words now..." Janos said quietly, looking away. I threw my arms about him and hugged him, being careful of his wings.
"Maybe there's nothing that needs to be said." I said, looking up at a very surprised Janos, who returned the hug. We stood in each other's arms for a little while, then Janos looked down at me.
"We shouldn't be out much longer..." he said softly, "But it's so peaceful here with you...if only we could stay like this..." he continued.
"If we get through this alive, we'll have to come back here..." I murmured, looking up at Janos. For a moment, we had eye contact. And then...he kissed me. It went on for a very long time.
Vorador had joked and laughed with Tal for a few moments when he noticed the fairy look out the window, outside. And then the fairy's mood dropped. "What's wrong, Tal?" asked Vorador, concerned.
Tal didn't answer, and Vorador looked out the window, too. "Well...I never would have thought it possible..." he muttered, then, "Anything more than a friendship would have been quite difficult for you and Aryasei anyways, Tal, considering your size difference."
"How did you know?" asked Tal, amazed.
"I know how love works, fae. It was easy to tell."